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The atmospheres of cool, helium-rich white dwarfs constitute an exotic and poorly explored physical regime of stellar atmospheres. Under physical conditions where the temperature varies from $\rm 1000K$ to $\rm 10000K$, the density can…
We present a semi-analytical free-energy model aimed at characterizing the thermodynamic properties of dense fluid helium, from the low-density atomic phase to the high-density fully ionized regime. The model is based on a free-energy…
We investigate the dissociation equilibrium of $\rm H_2$ in very cool, helium-rich white dwarf atmospheres. We present the solution of the non-ideal chemical equilibrium for the dissociation of molecular hydrogen in a medium of dense…
The hydrogen plasma is studied at temperatures T ~ 10^4 - 10^6 K using the free energy minimization method. A simple analytic free energy model is proposed which is accurate at densities up to 1 g/cc and yields convergent internal partition…
Aims: Hydrogen deficient white dwarfs are characterized by very dense, fluid-like atmospheres of complex physics and chemistry that are still poorly understood. The incomplete description of these atmospheres by the models results in…
Dense, He-rich atmospheres of cool white dwarfs represent a challenge to the modeling. This is because these atmospheres are constituted of a dense fluid in which strong multi-atomic interactions determine their physics and chemistry.…
HeH$^+$ is found to be the dominant positive ion over a wide range of temperatures and densities relevant to helium rich white dwarfs. The inclusion of HeH$^+$ in ionization equilibrium computations increases the abundance of free electrons…
When the neutral interstellar medium is exposed to EUV and soft X ray radiation, the argon atoms in it are far more susceptible to being ionized than the hydrogen atoms. We make use of this fact to determine the level of ionization in the…
In this work the processes of absorption charge-exchange and photo-association in He+H$^{+}$ collisions together with the process of ion HeH$^{+}$ photo-dissociation are considered as factors of influence on the opacity of the atmospheres…
Recent observations and theoretical investigations of neutron stars indicate that their atmospheres consist not of hydrogen or iron but possibly other elements such as helium. We calculate the ionization and dissociation equilibrium of…
White dwarf stars composed of carbon, oxygen or heavier elements are expected to crystallize as they cool down below certain temperatures. Yet, simple arguments suggest that the helium white dwarf cores may not solidify, mostly because of…
Due to their high photospheric density, cool helium-rich white dwarfs (particularly DZ, DQpec and ultracool) are often poorly described by current atmosphere models. As part of our ongoing efforts to design atmosphere models suitable for…
Reliable modeling of the atmospheres of cool white dwarfs is crucial for understanding the atmospheric evolution of these stars and for accurate white dwarfs cosmochronology. Over the last decade {\it ab initio} modeling entered many…
Observations of resolved HeII Lyman alpha absorption in spectra of two QSO's suggest that the epoch of helium ionization occurred at z~3. Proximity zones in the spectra of the quasars (z=3.18, 3.285) at 304 A resemble Stromgren spheres,…
The atmospheres of very cool, hydrogen-rich white dwarfs (Teff <6000 K) are challenging to models because of the increased complexity of the equation of state, chemical equilibrium, and opacity sources in a low-temperature, weakly ionized…
We present an analysis of 40 cool helium-rich white dwarfs found in the Hamburg/ESO survey. They were selected for follow-up spectroscopy because of their U-B colour below -0.18, the absence of strong absorption lines, and a continuum shape…
The photospheres of the coolest helium-atmosphere white dwarfs are characterized by fluid-like densities. Under those conditions, standard approximations used in model atmosphere codes are no longer appropriate. Unfortunately, the majority…
We present new cooling sequences, color-magnitude diagrams, and color-color diagrams for cool white dwarfs with pure hydrogen atmospheres down to an effective temperature $\te=1500$ K. We include a more detailed treatment of the physics of…
Ultracool stellar atmospheres show absorption by alkali resonance lines severely broadened by collisions with neutral perturbers. In the coolest and densest atmospheres, such as those of T dwarfs, Na I and K I broadened by molecular…
We present model calculations of ionization fractions for elements in the warm (log T = 4), low-density photoionized interstellar medium (WIM) of the Milky Way. We model the WIM as a combination of overlapping low-excitation H II regions…